Recent patient says current care just fine

Dr. Carl Aschoff's excellent guest column (June 13) on the proposed medical mall challenged its proponents and supporters to care. He opined that only improvement of patient care and curtailment of spiraling hospital costs would be justifiable reasons to proceed.

Recently, Physicians' Clinic of Iowa, P.C., ran a large ad stating “PCI's new facility will be among an elite handful of medical malls in the U.S.” The ad noted six “conveniences,” which I assume is to garner public support.

I recently had outpatient surgery and needed the services of physicians, labs and a surgical center. My needs were served entirely by existing facilities not all in one place. It was no inconvenience to me as results are transmitted electronically among the providers.

The ad failed to inform me of any substantive reason for this major expansion of medical facilities.

I was 100 percent satisfied with services I received from my family practice physician, specialist, local labs, RCI Imaging and Mercy Medical staff. Tell me how they could have done better. Tell me the impact of this PCI project on all stakeholders - the clients, the PCI physicians, non-PCI physicians, existing labs and imaging centers, the two excellent hospitals we already have and the community at large. Who is paying for it? How will it impact the profitability of existing institutions?

What about the excess building capacity that will be created by vacating existing facilities? Will it curtail spiraling health care costs?

Without the “beef,” I am not buying it.

Carol M. Sudmeier

Hiawatha